I am fortunate enough to teach a class on climate change and
innovation during this pandemic. And my
students are always raising new questions and ideas that call for further
exploration and reflection on how to reframe roles as we strive to act on climate change:
- ·
What’s the link between climate change, the
coronavirus, and our lungs?
- ·
Are we acting quickly enough to protect
coral?
- ·
How can
we get funding to support the decarbonization of transportation?
- ·
How art and fantasy can advance environmental
measures...
- ·
Why social innovation may be the best tool youth
have to express their frustration with governmental inaction on climate change.
To answer, some of these questions, I didn’t have to do much
digging. Indeed, The NY Times features a weekly climate
change newsletter that raised some of the issues that my students had been
wondering about…email me if you want the link!
Question: What’s the
link between climate change, the coronavirus, and our lungs?
Response in NY Times Climate Forward newsletter:
4/8/20: Chronic lung diseases,
coming from living nearby factories, can make people more susceptible to the
Coronavirus. So can race and underlying
health conditions.
Question: Are we
acting quickly enough to protect coral?
Response in NY Times Climate Forward newsletter: No—significant bleaching was reported this
past month: according to Professor
Hughes at the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies “it’s the first
time we’ve seen severely bleached reefs along the whole lengths of the reef, in
particular, the coastal reefs."
Chicago Tribune (12/11/20): Shedd
Researcher Ross Cunning is trying to locate resilient coral, but bleaching
continues at an alarming rate.
For those of us who love to swim, snorkel, and see the
beauty of the oceans, take a look at the Netflix film, Chasing Coral. Parts are exquisitely beautiful, and the featured
environmentalists are so committed.
Don’t have Netflix? Here’s a link
to a YouTube summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6fHA9R2cKI
Question and idea: Why
we need money NOW to fund efforts to de-carbonize transportation.
Response: This past
weekend, while dialing into a 350.org Chicago meeting, I was introduced (not present at the meeting, just referenced) to an environmentalist,
innovator, and MacArthur recipient, Dr. Saul Griffith. Dr. Griffith essentially made one of the same
arguments my student had been making for the last couple of weeks: we need investments (pony up now) to develop
electric airplanes and make cheaper versions of electric cars.
Dr. Griffith reported that history was on our side when it
came to funding efforts to decarbonize transportation:
"The car loan was invented in the 1920s.
The modern home loan was invented in the 1940s.
The invention we need for 2020 is the climate loan." Saulgriffith.com/blog/solving-climate
change with a loan
- Idea: How art and
fantasy can advance environmental measures.
Response: One of our Kids Climate Summit experts, Alisa Singer, is a renowned artist in the field of climate
change. Her artwork was featured on the
cover of the 2018 IPCC Brochure. http://www.environmentalgraphiti.org/aboutus. Stern visited her exhibit at the Peggy
Notebaert Museum (photo by Stern, but greater creativity on website)!
Idea: why social
innovation may be the best tool youth have to express their frustration with
governmental inaction on climate change.
Response: On a macro level, most kids don't have the resources to galvanize action on the climate crisis. There is strength in numbers and giving youth a platform for expression continues to be an aim of our Kids Climate Summit. On a micro level, our climate change and innovation class focused on designing or redesigning inventions
aimed at reducing warming. It’s kind of
hard to build inventions while in quarantine, but our interest in social
innovation has morphed into communal tree planting. Stay tuned!
Speaking of stay tuned, catch Trevor Noah’s light interview
with all time social innovator, Greta Thunberg on the Daily Show (9/11/19). Enlightening and funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhQVustYV24
Be well, and continue to act on the climate crisis!